City Departments

Arts, Culture & Heritage

The City of Cambridge is blessed with a cluster of arts and culture that is evolving and creating a significant impact on the economy and enhancing the quality of life.

Community assets such as the Cambridge Centre for the Arts,continue to flourish and recent announcements for more investment into theatre and education serve to strengthen this. The arts, culture and heritage helps attract and retain residents; and businesses cite these offerings as an important reason for choosing to locate and stay in the area.

Arts Connect Cambridge
Arts Connect Cambridge is a volunteer committee dedicated to support and enhance Cambridge arts organizations and individual artist's projects. An annual fundraiser will be hosted with proceeds going to selected beneficiaries. Priority is given to individual artists or organizations based on artistic merit/originality/impact/creativity to the community of Cambridge.
Applications must be received by Friday, January 3, 2014.2014 Funding Application and Information

Cambridge Arts and Culture Master Plan
The City of Cambridge has recognized the increasing importance of arts and culture to the future growth of the community, and acknowledged the changing needs of its residents for arts and cultural services. It has also recognized that, in order to better serve the residents of Cambridge, the cultural community has its own specific needs. To assist the City in its planning and to develop a better understanding of the needs of its residents and the needs of the cultural community, Cambridge engaged TCI Management Consultants (in collaboration with the St. Clements Group Inc. and Steven Thorne Consulting) to develop an arts and culture strategic plan, after a public tender process.

THE NEW ARTS, CULTURE AND HERITAGE SURVEY has now been completed and will be helpful when creating the Master Plan. Thank you to the many community members who participated in the process. We couldn't have done it without you.

Background -
Recently, we held a public information session to provide input into the Master Plan and help shape the future of Cambridge Arts, Culture and Heritage. Many people attended this interactive session at Cambridge City Hall, 50 Dickson Street, which was one way to gain your views and help us set the game plan and direction for initiatives to consider for the next decade.

For more information on the announcement of this session, take a look at the following news release media release

Cambridge Arts Guild
The Cambridge Arts Guild contributes to the development of vibrant, artistic experiences for the public through active support of the Cambridge Centre for the Arts. The Guild acts as an advisory board, an advocacy group and a fundraising body. The initiatives of the Arts Guild expand and enhance the diversity and quality of Arts Centre programming and events, and provide support to community arts initiatives. Cambridge Arts Guild

SPTA (Students Promoting the Arts)Students Promoting the Arts is a group of highly enthusiastic, creative local youth who operate out of the Cambridge Centre for the Arts. This group is responsible for the planning of concerts, shows, art exhibits and film festivals in and around the Cambridge Centre for the Arts. For more information call 519.740.4681 ext. 4369 or email meloh@cambridge.ca

Cambridge Arts & Culture Advisory Committee of Council
The Cambridge Arts and Culture Advisory Committee will make recommendations and provide advice to Cambridge City Council on matters pertaining to arts and cultural activities in the community.

City Council recognizes the growing importance of the need for the continued development of artistic and other cultural opportunities in the City in relation to, and in support of, the quality of life of city residents, and the reinforcement of the City's own cultural development.

The committee is comprised of representatives from the following groups: Cambridge Arts Guild, Cambridge Library and Galleries, School of Architecture, Galt Little Theatre, the Cultural Awards Committee, Heritage Cambridge, Mill Race Folk Society, a member of City Council, and members at large.

Cultural Awards Committee
This committee administers the distribution of awards and expenses of the Bernice Adams Memorial Fund, to provide assistance to deserving and qualified persons or groups in the fields of communications, arts and culture, through the following programs: